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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><b>Hi All,<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>Also, here is an article sent to the GT by Yigal, a volunteer driver for DAB:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Don’t Let Benton County Destroy Dial-A-Bus<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>For nearly 50 years, Dial-A-Bus has quietly done what government often<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>struggles to do: get seniors and people with disabilities where they need to<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>go, safely and with dignity. During the pandemic, Dial-A-Bus drivers shuttled<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>people for vaccinations at Reser Stadium and brought groceries to<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>homebound clients so critical appointments were not missed, all at no<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>charge. Even as this nonprofit stepped up for our community, Benton County<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>was laying the groundwork to push it aside.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>In recent years, the county has steadily undermined Dial-A-Bus, not by<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>openly making its case, but through policy changes, red tape, and expensive<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>missteps that make the nonprofit’s work harder and its service worse. Benton<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Area Transit (BAT) was created, and Dial-A-Bus was relegated to a<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>subcontractor. Longtime clients in places like North Albany, who once could<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>be driven across the bridge for medical appointments or shopping, suddenly<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>found themselves cut off when trips outside county borders were banned.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The county then took over rider applications and imposed a new five-page<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>form, even on existing clients. The process is confusing and intrusive,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>demanding detailed medical information and doctor document releases.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Clients must reapply every two years, as if they might somehow become<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>younger or healthier. Those who do qualify can find themselves doubled or<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>tripled up on rides, missing appointments or being turned away because of<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>scheduling limits. Many now deeply mistrust the County.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Meanwhile, the county has spent public money in ways that do little to help<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>riders. All county buses and vans were repainted in new BAT colors and<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>logos, an expensive exercise that confused many Dial-A-Bus clients,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>particularly those who are developmentally disabled. In 2023, the<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>county imposed a routing software system, VIA, on Dial-A-Bus at a cost of<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>about $150,000, claiming it would improve efficiency. It did the opposite.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Within two weeks, Dial-A-Bus dispatchers were seeing clients miss dialysis,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>chemotherapy, and food bank visits. They reverted to pen-and-paper<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>scheduling to keep people from falling through the cracks, while the county<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>took months to admit the software was a failure, yet taxpayers still foot the<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>bill.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Now Benton County is exploring taking transit operations in-house. It hired<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>outside consultants to justify bringing what Dial-A-Bus does under county<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>control. The county has no demonstrated expertise running a service like this<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and would have to take on the cost of hiring and training staff, paying<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>benefits, and managing all the complexity that Dial-A-Bus already handles. If<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the new funding streams driving this push dry up, the county will be left<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>holding the bag, and riders will pay the price.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Just as troubling is how much of this has happened out of public view. The<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF) was designed to direct<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>money to those who need it most and created local advisory committees to<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>provide oversight. Yet Public Works did not convene the STIF committee at all<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>during 2025, despite legal requirements. When the committee finally met on<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>March 2 of this year, more than 50 Dial-A-Bus clients and stakeholders<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>showed up to oppose the county takeover, and the committee voted to stop<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>work on the in-house proposal. That message should be impossible to ignore.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Benton County commissioners have been in this position before. On Coffin<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Butte, they finally listened to their constituents and reversed course. They<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>should do the same here: reject the plan to take over Dial-A-Bus, insist on full<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>transparency around STIF funds, and direct the necessary resources to the<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>nonprofit that has proven, for decades, that it can deliver. Dial-A-Bus has<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>earned the community’s trust. The county has not.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><b>Kristen Jocums<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class=MsoNormal>(706)718-8055<o:p></o:p></p></div></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>